VERVE Books is a dynamic independent publisher of page-turning, diverse and original writing, based in the UK and led by a team of imaginative booklovers. Launched in 2018, our aim is to publish a wide range of compelling literature with a fresh and vital feel.
FORTHCOMING PRINT RELEASES
The Turner House brings us a colourful, complicated brood full of love and pride, sacrifice and unlikely inheritances. It's a striking examination of the price we pay for our dreams and futures, and the ways in which our families bring us home.
Blending biting social critique with an uncanny claustrophobia and the feverish pressure of 'influencer culture', After Care interrogates what happens behind the scenes of what we see on our screens and what that reflects back at us, the audience. It asks, in a world full of harm, is there any point in caring about anybody but yourself?
Bridging the gaps between contemporary gothic fiction, queer fiction and magical realism, Fragile Animals lures readers into Noelle's loose grasp on her world and immerses them in some of Scotland's most harsh and claustrophobic environments.
By turns tender and irreverent, the eleven genre-bending stories in Please Don't Touch the Body revel in the devastation - and power - of being alive today.
FORTHCOMING PRINT RELEASES
Angela FlournoyThe Turner House brings us a colourful, complicated brood full of love and pride, sacrifice and unlikely inheritances. It's a striking examination of the price we pay for our dreams and futures, and the ways in which our families bring us home.
Divya ManiarBlending biting social critique with an uncanny claustrophobia and the feverish pressure of 'influencer culture', After Care interrogates what happens behind the scenes of what we see on our screens and what that reflects back at us, the audience. It asks, in a world full of harm, is there any point in caring about anybody but yourself?
Genevieve JaggerBridging the gaps between contemporary gothic fiction, queer fiction and magical realism, Fragile Animals lures readers into Noelle's loose grasp on her world and immerses them in some of Scotland's most harsh and claustrophobic environments.
Emily DoyleBy turns tender and irreverent, the eleven genre-bending stories in Please Don't Touch the Body revel in the devastation - and power - of being alive today.
NEW AND FORTHCOMING EBOOK RELEASES
Available October 2026
Divya ManiarBlending biting social critique with an uncanny claustrophobia and the feverish pressure of 'influencer culture', After Care interrogates what happens behind the scenes of what we see on our screens and what that reflects back at us, the audience. It asks, in a world full of harm, is there any point in caring about anybody but yourself?
NEW AND FORTHCOMING EBOOK RELEASES
Divya ManiarBlending biting social critique with an uncanny claustrophobia and the feverish pressure of 'influencer culture', After Care interrogates what happens behind the scenes of what we see on our screens and what that reflects back at us, the audience. It asks, in a world full of harm, is there any point in caring about anybody but yourself?
CURRENT NEW RELEASES
A gripping gothic mystery that deepens across decades, All Her Beautiful Deaths is an exploration of classism and ownership in the art world, while beautifully portraying expressions of grief and love. Perfect for fans of Fingersmith by Sarah Waters and The Burial Plot by Elizabeth Macneal with echoes of Daphne du Maurier.
Art, ambition and desire collide when a struggling academic becomes entangled in the marriage and creative life of her literary idol.
Told in three distinct voices, Short War brings together a rapturous teenage love story set in Chile, the hunt for the author of an eye-opening literary detective story and a complex reckoning with American political intervention in South America.
From the highly acclaimed author of How Can I Help You comes a masterful domestic suspense novel that follows a 1960s housewife turned amateur photographer who begins to fear for her life when she notices the dark silhouette of a man in the background of her self-portraits.
CURRENT NEW RELEASES
A. RushbyA gripping gothic mystery that deepens across decades, All Her Beautiful Deaths is an exploration of classism and ownership in the art world, while beautifully portraying expressions of grief and love. Perfect for fans of Fingersmith by Sarah Waters and The Burial Plot by Elizabeth Macneal with echoes of Daphne du Maurier.
Laurie PetrouArt, ambition and desire collide when a struggling academic becomes entangled in the marriage and creative life of her literary idol.
Lily MeyerTold in three distinct voices, Short War brings together a rapturous teenage love story set in Chile, the hunt for the author of an eye-opening literary detective story and a complex reckoning with American political intervention in South America.
Laura SimsFrom the highly acclaimed author of How Can I Help You comes a masterful domestic suspense novel that follows a 1960s housewife turned amateur photographer who begins to fear for her life when she notices the dark silhouette of a man in the background of her self-portraits.
FEATURED AUTHORS
BACKLIST HIGHLIGHTS
An electrifying debut featuring a genderqueer corporate burnout who embarks on a road trip from Chicago to Arkansas to search for their Trump-loving father, who has gone missing.
Death takes centre stage. Does the killer lie in the wings?
An undercover assignment for the Bow Street magistrate sees Lizzie Hardwicke trade Mrs Farley's Bawdy House in Soho for life as a seamstress at a theatre on Drury Lane. Once there, she quickly realises that what goes on in the wings is much more intriguing than the theatrics being played out onstage...
When a high-profile investor is brutally hanged at centre stage, Lizzie discovers the body and is once again thrown together with William Davenport, the magistrate's assistant with whom she is growing ever closer. The suspect list rivals any casting call, and Lizzie must use every trick hidden up her sleeve to see through all the performance and bring the culprit into the spotlight.
Taut and compelling, How Can I Help You explores the dark side of human nature and the dangerous pull of artistic obsession.
WINNER OF THE 2021 SUE GRAFTON MEMORIAL AWARD
The 'splendid genre-pushing' (People) Vera Kelly series returns in full force as our recently out-of-the-spy-game heroine finds herself traveling from Brooklyn to a sprawling countryside estate in the Caribbean in her first case as a private investigator.
BACKLIST HIGHLIGHTS
Zee CarlstromAn electrifying debut featuring a genderqueer corporate burnout who embarks on a road trip from Chicago to Arkansas to search for their Trump-loving father, who has gone missing.
Georgina ClarkeDeath takes centre stage. Does the killer lie in the wings?
An undercover assignment for the Bow Street magistrate sees Lizzie Hardwicke trade Mrs Farley's Bawdy House in Soho for life as a seamstress at a theatre on Drury Lane. Once there, she quickly realises that what goes on in the wings is much more intriguing than the theatrics being played out onstage...
When a high-profile investor is brutally hanged at centre stage, Lizzie discovers the body and is once again thrown together with William Davenport, the magistrate's assistant with whom she is growing ever closer. The suspect list rivals any casting call, and Lizzie must use every trick hidden up her sleeve to see through all the performance and bring the culprit into the spotlight.
Laura SimsTaut and compelling, How Can I Help You explores the dark side of human nature and the dangerous pull of artistic obsession.
Rosalie KnechtWINNER OF THE 2021 SUE GRAFTON MEMORIAL AWARD
The 'splendid genre-pushing' (People) Vera Kelly series returns in full force as our recently out-of-the-spy-game heroine finds herself traveling from Brooklyn to a sprawling countryside estate in the Caribbean in her first case as a private investigator.
VERVE BOOKS - NEWSLETTER
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NEWS AND VIEWS
My Favourite Fictional Power Dynamics
In my latest novel, The Rayburn Affair, I’m exploring power dynamics again, and this time they are set against the academic and publishing worlds, in a friendship and in a marriage, in public and private... If I was building a book playlist for novels that compliment The Rayburn Affair and prepare the imagination for reading it, these are my top recommendations.
THE INSPIRATION BEHIND SHORT WAR BY LILY MEYER
Lily Meyer, author of SHORT WAR, talks inspiration behind her debut novel, US intervention and Latin American history.
Message from the editors of Queerphoria
Queerphoria is out in paperback and eBook, and we cannot stress enough how much of a pleasure it has been putting it together for you all. To see the incredible stories, essays, poems and reflections that have stemmed from such a broad brief all collated into one anthology has been so rewarding, creatively and personally.
Most anticipated queer reads of 2026
Happy Pride Month! From the team and some of our queer VERVE authors, we're bringing you our most anticipated LGBTQIA reads for 2026. Buckle up and find the next book to add to your TBR.NEWS AND VIEWS
My Favourite Fictional Power Dynamics
In my latest novel, The Rayburn Affair, I’m exploring power dynamics again, and this time they are set against the academic and publishing worlds, in a friendship and in a marriage, in public and private... If I was building a book playlist for novels that compliment The Rayburn Affair and prepare the imagination for reading it, these are my top recommendations.
THE INSPIRATION BEHIND SHORT WAR BY LILY MEYER
Lily Meyer, author of SHORT WAR, talks inspiration behind her debut novel, US intervention and Latin American history.
Message from the editors of Queerphoria
Queerphoria is out in paperback and eBook, and we cannot stress enough how much of a pleasure it has been putting it together for you all. To see the incredible stories, essays, poems and reflections that have stemmed from such a broad brief all collated into one anthology has been so rewarding, creatively and personally.
Most anticipated queer reads of 2026
Happy Pride Month! From the team and some of our queer VERVE authors, we're bringing you our most anticipated LGBTQIA reads for 2026. Buckle up and find the next book to add to your TBR.